The Sabarimala Karma Samathi, a Hindu Aikya Vedi construct to prevent women between the “prohibited” age of 10 and 50 entering Sabarimala, has said it would observe a State-wide general strike in Kerala on Thursday.
Samathi national president S. J. R. Kumar said Ayyappa devotees would bring Kerala to a standstill between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
He said the agitation would not abate till Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan resigns. He accused Mr Vijayan of having insulted Hindus by facilitating the furtive entry of women of menstruating age to Sannidhanam, the sanctum of the hill shrine.
Meanwhile, an officer was injured when police tried to dissuade Hindu Aikya Vedi protesters from forcibly closing shops at Karunagapally in Kollam district.
Kerala traders not to heed hartal call
As many as 96 trade organisations have announced that they would not heed the call by the Sabarimala Karma Samathi for a general strike in Kerala.
Their leader, Kerala Vyapara Vyvasayi Ekopana Samithi (KVVES) president T. Nassarudin, said traders would conduct business as usual on Thursday.
Bus and boat owners, proprietors of fuel outlets, ice factory owners, representatives of hotels and restaurant associations, taxi and autorickshaw drivers have declared against the hartal, he said.
Traders have kitted out their establishments with surveillance cameras. They would record any attempt to disrupt business, forcibly close shops, vandalise enterprises to and attack traders and furnish it as evidence in court.
Mr Nassarudin said traders had formed a legal collective to sue hartal organisers who hurt businesses. The arrangement would spare traders from legally pursuing vandals individually.
The SKS, a Hindu Aikya Vedi, had called for a general strike to protest the ingress of two women devotees to the sanctum early on Wednesday.
The SKS and the BJP have in the past three months imposed three crippling general strikes in close succession in Kerala, prompting an organised resistance by traders against what they described as “drop-of-the-hat” hartals.